what's your personal favorite moment of the iliad that most deeply resonated with you?
Anytime Achilleus opens his mouth lol.
Ngl, it's so hard to narrow down, because Homer makes even the most mundane moments into something beautiful. But I'd say it's probably Achilleus' lament in Book 18 (though the conversation with Priam in Book 24 is not far off!)
Some of my favourite lines from Book 18 are:
"My mother, all these things the Olympian brought to accomplishment.
But what pleasure is this to me, since my dear companion has perished,
Patroklos, whom I loved beyond all other companions,
as well as my own life.
[...]
As it is, there must be on your heart a numberless sorrow
for your son's death, since you can never again receive him
won home again to his country; since the spirit within does not drive me
to go on living and be among men, except on condition
that Hektor first be beaten down under my spear, lose his life
and pay the price for stripping Patroklos, the son of Menoitios" (Il, trans. Lattimore, 18.79-82; 18.87-93).
"I must die soon, then; since I was not to stand by my companion
when he was killed. And now, far away from the land of his fathers,
he has perished, and lacked my fighting strength to defend him.
[...]
"I wish that strife would vanish away from among gods and mortals,
and gall [cholos], which makes a man grow angry for all his great mind,
that gall of anger that swarms like smoke inside of a man's heart
and becomes a thing sweeter to him by far than the dripping of honey." (18.98-100; 18.107-110)
I love these moments because they really show how the intensity of Achilleus' emotions affects him. In the first passage, we see how his grief over Patroklos' death drives him towards suicidal ideation (also demonstrated in that heartbreaking moment at the beginning of Book 18 when Antilochus stops Achilleus from reaching towards his sword to presumably kill himself). In the second passage, we see his guilt, as well as the origin of it being that Achilleus felt responsible for Patroklos in the way that a parent feels responsible for their child. As Aristos Achaion, he has alluded to a motherly role towards the Achaian armies, and Patroklos earlier in the Iliad (9.323-27; 16.6-10)
Though he disengages from this responsibility towards the rest of the Achaians in Book 1, and again in Book 9, he never does so with respect to the Myrmidons, and never with Patroklos. So there's this deep guilt that goes along with his grief. It is also interesting to note that no other hero in the Iliad reacts this intensely to the death of their comrades (both in their speech, but also in their actions). The seemingly unending grief (manifesting in suicidal tendencies, refusing to eat or sleep) and wrath (his continuous mutilation of Hektor's corpse) of Achilleus is incredibly singular and unique to him.
But what stands out to me the most here is his relationship with his anger. In the quoted passage, Achilleus refers to cholos, which denotes a more human anger, compared to menin, divine wrath (first word of the Iliad, the driving force of the poem and of his character). Though he doesn't mention his menin here, I couldn't help thinking of it, because it's so central to his character. Achilleus describes his anger here as an external force that controls him, rather than as something he controls (it "swarms like smoke, becomes a thing sweeter than honey"). This is a force that seems independent.
Overall, I love these passages because they show us the complex relationship that Achilleus has between his mortality and his divinity. He is a human man for whom death is inevitable, and for whom the death of his loved ones is also inevitable. But he has to reckon with these forces that are not mortal -- his rage, for one, his destiny and kleos for another. And it's just so tragic to me because we see how the intensity of these forces causes him grief. His divine wrath sets in motion the events that get Patroklos killed. His identity as Aristos Achaion places a burden of responsibility on his shoulders that causes him immense guilt when he fails (and he was bound to fail — at the end of the day, he's a mortal surrounded by mortals, and all mortals have to die).
I hope this wasn't too long an answer lol, I can't shut up about the Iliad when I get started. But I really loved writing this out, so thank you for asking!!
